Tumultuous Tides
by InvaderQix
Summary: Janis and her younger sister Meghan have always been close, but their parents, not so much. Every summer, they'd go visit their father in Washington, but Meghan was traumatized by a young boy there. After five years of mental torture, Janis decides to leave her parents behind, taking Meghan with her, but the day they leave, their lives change forever.
1. The Transition

"Okay Meghan, you know what you're going to do when we get there, right?"

The red '94 Celica raced down the road, the girls inside of it looking grim. The younger girl, Meghan, had spent the whole car ride staring out at the ocean, but it did nothing to improve her mood.

Going to Washington meant seeing _him_. Seeing him meant everyone making fun of her. Then he'd chase her, and touch her and do the most horrible things. It didn't help that their dad thought he was an absolute sweetheart. Sadly, he was a good actor, and no longer scared of Janis.

"Stay in the house as much as possible. Keep the doors and windows locked. Have my blade with me at all times. Don't speak at all."

Janis patted her sister's shoulder. "Don't speak except if I'm the one you're speaking to. Remember, I am always with you, and I'll be in the house at all times."

"Why do we have to go?" Meghan whispered.

Janis said nothing, just continued to drive.

Soon, their exit approached. Janis eased up on her speed and drove right past it.

"Janis, you missed the exit!" Meghan gasped.

Janis smiled at her. "I know." Meghan's face was filled with confusion, but then she smiled too. Finally, the torture was over. This must have meant that Janis had found the beach house she wanted, and if that was the case, then they'd never have to go back to Washington, despite their father being there, which means no more of _him_.

Five exits later, Janis was speeding off towards a beautiful beach with blue-green water and sand that looked like sugar.

"This…is amazing!" Meghan breathed.

"This is home. This is our new home." Janis softly.

Some teens on the beach waved at them excitedly, their shouts muffled by the car windows. Janis waved back and kept the speed steady.

"Jan, why don't you just put the car on cruise control? You look like you're about to have an aneurysm."

Janis yawned. "I didn't get much sleep last night. Too much thinking." Janis pressed down on the pedal then pushed the cruise button on the wheel and leaned back. She'd never actually used the cruise control, as she felt it was dead weight.

Even with her foot relaxed on the pedal, her eyes were trained on the speedometer. Before she'd gotten the Celica, she'd looked it up on a lot of websites and the one thing that had concerned her was that many people complained that the cruise control was a crapshoot. She'd still bought the car, but the cruise control hadn't crossed her mind again until Meghan had brought it up.

Soon, they were both yawning, the long drive having worn them out. Janis knew she couldn't fall asleep at the wheel, because even though it seemed the car was fine, the cruise control wasn't for sleeping at the wheel. She rubbed her eyes, and took hold of the wheel again, looking for a rest stop to pull over at. The next one wasn't for another fifty or so miles, so Janis pinched her arms and rubbed her eyes, desperate to stay awake. Since Meghan had fallen asleep, Janis was alone in trying to stay awake.

"You can do this, Jannie. This isn't the first time you've had to drive a long while. Come on."

She tightened her grip on the wheel as if it would hold her up and keep her awake.

Fifteen minutes later, she saw an exit for a motel on the beach that was five miles away. She switched over to the left-hand lane and pressed the cruise control button again, pressing down on the gas pedal. Only five more miles…

When Janis woke up, she was in extreme pain and Meghan was screaming. Janis looked around wildly, trying to find her little sister. Once her eyes focused, she saw Meghan had been thrown out through the windshield, and behind her was a metal heap with a severed arm next to it.

"Meghan! I'm here! I'm- aah!"

Janis fell on her knees, her lower right leg in horrific pain. It was shattered. She managed to stand up on her elbows and began dragging herself towards her sister, who continued to scream.

"Meghan! Meghan, stop screaming, please!" She laid next to her and wiped her tears away.

"I…they…it hurts. Make it stop, please!" Meghan almost resumed her ungodly shrieking, but Janis slapped her hands on top of the younger girl's mouth.

"I said stop screaming. Do you know where our phones are?" Janis tried to ignore her burning leg, but the pain was nearly overwhelming.

"I…I can't reach mine. I don't know where yours is."

Janis felt a cold feeling seeping into her body, and she felt something shifting. Soon, her leg stopped hurting and Meghan had a weird look on her face.

"Do you hear it Janis?"

"Do I hear what?" Janis sighed.

"Do you hear them? Their song? Can you feel their call?" Meghan had a glazed over look in her eyes.

Janis sighed, but then she heard _it_. It was a lovely sound, but the cold feeling got stronger.

"I hear them Meg. I feel them. Let's go to them."

Janis squeezed her sister's hand and let the cold overtake her, and she fully shifted along with Meghan, their watery forms slipping away from the smashed up cars. Though grass and over concrete they flowed, until they found sand. It was another beach, and it was dark.

The girls couldn't communicate, but they both had the same thought, _towards the pier._ Their forms sped for it, and they threw themselves over the side.

When they hit the water, the cold feeling returned, then disappeared again. It felt weird having a corporeal form again, after what felt like hours of searching for a water source. Janis felt something growing inside of her, and she opened her mouth to let it flow.

What she heard was so unearthly beautiful that it frightened her, but at the same time it was familiar. She closed her mouth once more, and the sounds ceased.

It was then that she felt the weirdness in her legs. She looked down, and instead of her broken lower body, there was a beautiful red-bronze tail.

She opened her mouth again, but this time to scream.


	2. Finding Our Way

"Holy shit!"

Janis was screaming and flopping around, trying to get out of the water. Meghan was failing to calm her down.

"Janis, will you stop already! You have a big fat fish tail attached to you, and there's no going back so just stop fighting it!"

Janis continued to flop around, her tail fully out of the water. Her screams went from being scared and confused to being in extreme pain.

"Oh my god, Janis, just stop already!" Meghan heaved her sister back into the water and soon, the screaming stopped.

"Wh-why do I have a tail?! What happened to my legs?" Tears were streaming down the older girl's face, which struck Meghan as odd. Janis hadn't cried since she was seven.

"You're such a dolt. We're mermaids! Remember the singing? And after the singing, we turned into water and then when we got to the ocean, we became solid again! Don't you see? Other mermaids were calling us! They wanted us to join them!"

Janis held her head in her hands. It was impossible. Mermaids didn't exist! That's why Eric Ducharme was around, to help girls who wanted to be mermaids live their dream.

"This has to be a dream. It has to b- OMIGOD! What if we're dead! Oh god, we're dead, aren't we?"

"No, you're not dead, but you _are_ trespassing in _MY_ territory!"

Janis looked up to see a bunch of mermaids crowded around in the cave. They were cornered.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry. Jeez, we're kinda…new here, or whatever. We didn't mean to invade your space."

The blonde one in the front rolled her eyes. She was wearing a ridiculous sequined top that matched her blue and… was that _pink_ in her tail?

"Whatever. As long as you don't cause any trouble for me and my tribe, you can-"

Janis burst out laughing. "Your…_your_ tribe?! Really?"

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "Yes. I'm the queen here, my name is-"  
"You're a _queen?! _ Oh my god, since when did stupid blondes become queens? What, did you suck so much mermaid dick that they crowned you Queen blonde ho of Mer Street? Like, seriously?! You look fucking ridiculous!"

Janis was in hysterics, tears running down her face as she laughed. Meghan was covering her face, laughing with her sister.

The mermaids edged closer to them, the blonde's face turning a deep red.

"Sadly, boys can't become mermaids. Either way, you'd better take back all that shit you just said, or you're _dead_." The look on the blonde queen's face was murderous, but the ugly sequined top made her look hilarious.

"Like hell I will. See you idiots never!" Janis grabbed Meghan's hand and leaped over them, propelling herself through the water. For a frightening moment, she felt Meghan slip away from her, but the younger girl simply sped ahead of her. Janis smiled and chased after her.

After another few hours of swimming, they found another cave and swam into it.

Sitting in the corner was a young mermaid, whose hair was black and spiky and her tail was a deep emerald green.

"Who are you? Did Anais send you?"

Janis shook her head. "I don't even know anyone named Anais. I'm just looking for somewhere for my sister and I to stay for the night. We don't have a home anymore."

The girl sighed, and looked off into the distance. Like Janis and Meghan, she had nothing covering up her breasts. At least this girl _looked_ like a mermaid, not like that crazy blonde.

"You can live here permanently as long as you accept me as queen and follow the _timahk._"

"The what?" asked Meghan. The girl swam up to them, her movements graceful, but Janis could feel that she was holding something back.

"You're not allowed to talk to humans. No kind of contact with humans at all. You're not allowed to physically hurt another mermaid. You're not allowed to leave a mermaid behind to be killed or hurt unless you know you'd most likely die. Those are our rules."

Janis shrugged. "As long as you're not crazy like that blonde bitch, you can rule me all you want."

The girls face contorted in anger. "She DID send you!"

Janis's eyes widened and she tried to swim away, but the water lifted her up and slammed her into the cave wall. The rocky walls sliced her arm open and she fell to the cave floor once again.

"Janis! Oh my god!" Meghan rushed to her side, tears streaming down her face.

"Janis! Please wake up, please! Please don't leave me!"

Janis lay, unmoving. Her arm bled like a river, and Meghan began to scream hysterically, unable to find anything in the cave to stop the bleeding. She furiously shook her sister, yelling at her to wake the hell up so they can continue their new live together, that she refused to let her go. If Janis had heard her, she didn't respond.

Meghan's pain turned to fury, and she trained her eye on the other mermaid.

"You did this. You did this to my sister! Janis never did anything to you!"

The other girl was shaking, tears falling down her face. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know, I really thought she'd sent you to kill me." She backed away, her eyes filled with fear and anguish.

"Oh, I will kill you, but not because some blonde bitch told me to!" Meghan let out a bellow of rage and attacked the girl, digging her nails into her arms. The girl screamed and struggled to get away from the furious girl on top of her, but to no avail. Meghan picked up the nearest rock and attempted to slam it into the girl's forehead. The failed strike send rock shards flying everywhere. Meghan swung again and sliced the girl's shoulder open. She screamed again, and fell on her side at the cave floor.

"Please stop! I'm so sorry, I didn't want to hurt your sister, I swear!"

"_DIE!"_

Meghan swung a final time, putting all of her strength into her attack.

At the last second, Janis pulled her away.

"You can stop being a Neanderthal now."

Meghan promptly dropped the rock, letting it sink into the water. "Janis?"

"The one and only." Janis gave her a crooked smile, her eyes crinkling up in the corners. Meghan threw herself into her sister's arms.

"I'm sorry." Meghan sighed into Janis's shoulder, and turned to the other girl, who was still cowering in the corner.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone insane like that." They both spoke at the same time.

"I saw…you two are lucky the crash didn't kill you. You're even more lucky that Anais didn't kill you, considering how badly you mouthed off to her. She'd probably have had one of her twisted followers kill you right then and there had you not gotten away."

"How the hell did _she_ become a queen anyway? How does that work?"

"The best singer in the tribe becomes queen. I'm not sure how that was decided, mermaids have been around for thousands of years."

Janis blinked in confusion. "The best singer gets to be queen? That's so stupid! That's the reason that stupid blonde is a queen, because she can throw some notes around?!"

The girl shrugged. "I've been queen of a nonexistent tribe for years. I'd like to see someone who can control the waters with her voice. Maybe I'd let her become queen."

Janis laughed heartily. "Watch _this._" She put her hand to her chest and began to let her voice flow.

Meghan smiled at the beautiful voice her sister had now been given. It sounded even more beautiful than the singing that had changed them into mermaids. As humans, she and Janis had been in their school's choir since fifth grade, and Janis had always had the more beautiful voice. She was also amazing on the piano, but for some reason, preferred rock to classical. Either way, Janis's human voice was _nothing_ compared to the haunting beauty of this new one.

Meghan looked around at the water, but other than the bubbles Janis's tail was stirring up, it was stationary.

Janis finished her song, and the other mermaid looked absolutely awestruck.

"Wow. That was beautiful, but watch and learn."

The girl opened her mouth and a song even more lovely than Janis's flowed out. Janis's jaw dropped, and she felt the water dancing around her, trailing up her arms and flying away, forming shapes in the air.

It was a sad song, not like her Greensleeves-esque tune. It told the story of Lucette Gray Korchak, a fourteen year old orphan who lived with an abusive, perverted uncle, who not only tried to rape her, but left her to die at the edge of a cliff. When she was accepted by the other mermaids, she was finally happy, and the former queen and her became really close until the evil sika Anais came along. Not long after another mermaid's suicide, the tribe had begun to fall apart, but Anais was the catalyst of its meltdown. Soon after, Luce was solitary, meeting mermaids here and there, all the while trying to escape Anais.

Janis and Meghan were both in tears when Luce was done. They pulled her into a tight hug and cried heavily.

"You'll never be alone again Luce." Janis sobbed.

"We promise, we'll never leave you, and we'll protect you from Anais."

"Because that's what a tribe does. They stick together and care for one another."

Luce began to cry too, and they all laid on the cave floor, sobbing and holding each other.


End file.
